This section covers the house rules we use for magic. As you may have noticed, there are a lot more of these than there are of any other type. There are a couple of reasons for this: first, because I'm the most familiar with the magic rules and know how they can be abused, and second, because Dan needed to keep Winterhawk in line. :)

Clairvoyance Usable for Spellcasting

We allow the Clairvoyance spell to be used as a method for spellcasting. The mage casting the spell must (of course) be in the range of the Clairvoyance, and the +2 modifier for sustaining a spell applies. Also, in our game, Clairvoyance is not a movable spell. Once it's cast, the range is based on the point at which it was cast.

Although it isn't expressly forbidden to put a Clairvoyance spell on a spell lock, it's one of those things we just don't do.

Magic Pool Dice Usable for Spellcasting

Mages are allowed to use as many dice as they wish from their Magic pools (up to their Magic attribute) to cast non-combat spells, but are limited to the number of Magic pool dice equal to the spell's Force for combat spells. So, if a mage casts a Heal spell at Force 3, and has 9 dice in his/her Magic pool, the mage could use up to 12 dice for this spell (keeping Drain in mind, of course.) However, the same mage, casting ManaBolt 3, could only use 6 dice (3 for Force + 3 from the Magic Pool).

Magic Pool Dice for Spell Defense

We still use the 1st Edition rule for spell defense dice, which allows the defending mage to allocate spell defense dice at the time a spell is cast, rather than ahead of time. The mage still must declare ahead of time that the dice are available for defense; he or she just doesn't have to decide how to divide them up until they're actually needed. Note that the mage must be able to see anyone protected by these dice; characters out of the mage's line of sight are not included in the protection.

Contrary to 1st Edition, however, the allocated dice must be divided among the protected characters by the magician, who can divide them as desired (not necessarily equally). The total number of protection dice does not apply fully to each protected character.

Levitate Person

Unless we're both mistaken (which is possible), whoever didn't consider Levitate Person's implication as a combat spell just wasn't thinking. As written, the target number for Levitate Person is 4, and it isn't resisted. So why throw a Manaball or other high-Drain spell when you can just use a Levitate Person to take the unfortunate victim up twenty or so meters and drop them? Our house rule makes the target number for Levitate Person 10 - Essence, rather than 4. This makes normals (Essence 6) as easy to levitate as they were in the published rules, but gives cybered characters a better chance of not getting affected. Magicians can use their Magic Pool to resist, and all other modifiers (weight, additional people) still apply.

Cover and Visibility Modifiers for Magic

We don't use cover and visibility modifiers for spells, except Manipulation spells. Line of sight is line of sight, regardless of whether the magician can see the top of a character's head or his whole body. Since non-Manipulation combat spells ground through astral space (as opposed to going directly from the casting magician to the target), we consider cover and visibility rules to be sort of irrelevant. If the magician can see something, he/she can cast a combat spell at it.

Bonding Spell Locks

In our game, when a mundane receives a spell lock, the Karma for its bonding is paid not by the mage but by the mundane recipient. A small ritual is involved in this, wherein the focus is bonded to the mundane by a magician. (Note: it is an unwritten rule in both our campaigns that mundanes are reasonably safe with one spell lock, but any more than one is likely to make them quick targets for opportunistic magicians.)

Healing

The Heal and Treat spells are effective against an entire wound, rather than being based on the number of successes the magician gets. So, if a character has a Serious wound and a Moderate wound, he or she would have to be healed twice (once for each wound), but the healing magician would have to get only one success each time. Instead of the +2 modifier for healing more than one wound on the same person, we require a 10-minute break between healings. This isn't a factor out of combat, but if the combats are coming fast, it works. (Of course, all these rules work for the opposition, too!)

Magicians and Time in Astral Space

Magicians can spend an amount of time in astral space equal to their natural Magic rating in hours. Any increases to the Magic rating (power foci, for example) don't count toward this total.

Magicians Can't Create Foci Above Natural Magic Rating

No magician can create a magical focus with a Rating higher than his or her unmodified (natural) magic rating.

Mundanes and Magical Items

A mundane can only have a number of active magical items (such as spell locks) equal to his or her Intelligence rating/2. In practice, mundanes are usually considered walking targets if they have more than one spell lock, but this rule sets an absolute limit.

Insect/Toxic Foci

A normal mage or shaman cannot use a focus created for use by toxic or insect shamans. The focus causes a normal magician severe discomfort, eventually making it impossible for the magician to remain in proximity to the item. Mundanes are not affected by this. A toxic or insect focus cannot be re-bonded by a normal magician.

Alternative Initiation

Dan felt from the time he first saw them that the Initiation rules make mages far too powerful, so he decided not to use them in his campaign. I argued that there ought to be something that mages can aspire to other than gaining more spells, and that the whole idea of "initiation" was too cool to drop, even if we did drop the more powerful aspects of it. So, to keep me happy, Dan came up with an alternative Initiation system. Gone are things like Quickened spells and Centering, but these Initiation rules still allow for a controlled (and Karma-expensive) increase in the magician's power level, concentrating in those areas that the individual magician considers important.
How does it work?